Center for the Study of Science Fiction
Courses and Education

The University of Kansas continues its role as the leader in science fiction
education. I can do no greater service to teachers than to repeat the advice
that I gave in Anatomy of Wonder 4: you should attend one of the
Intensive English Institutes on the Teaching of Science Fiction offered at the
University of Kansas.

Speculative Fiction Studies at the University of Kansas

The Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction is the umbrella for
everything SF@KU! Each year we offer many literature, fiction-writing, and science & technology courses,
plus educational events in Lawrence, at the University of Kansas, and abroad. Click the titles or links on this page for full information about the
programs available through the Center and the University of Kansas.
Where available, you can find the syllabus linked from each page: We see it as the Center's duty
to be open-source about our educational opportunities - after all, we're working to "Save
the world through science fiction." Unforeseen circumstances can affect availability, but this schedule outlines our current plan.

Thesis and Dissertation Advising

Year-round, we offer thesis and dissertation advising, chair thesis
committees, and serve on dissertation committees for MA, MFA, and PhD students
studying speculative fiction literature, writing, and SF-related projects in
non-English fields. Graduate students can also enroll in many Gunn Center courses as
ENGL 690 or ENGL 790, and under special
circumstances may petition to enroll through
Investigation and Conference (ENGL 998). We hope to offer more
grad-specific courses soon.

Contact Kij
Johnson or Chris McKitterick
directly if you wish to work with them on your project. The Center is also
connected to a broad diversity of affiliated faculty from other disciplines with
interest in science fiction who have served on SF literature and writing
committees, and might be willing to work with you, as well.

Donate! If you
would like to donate to support SF studies at KU - either to honor a loved one or just to
help students in need - please contact us, and we'll be more than happy to work
with you! Please send Center Director Chris McKitterick a note at
cmckit@gmail.com or the Center's main
email (Gunn.SF.Center@gmail.com) with any questions. We use
KU Endowment
accounts to ensure that donations are fee-free and secure, and that they are used entirely and
exclusively for the designated purpose. Thanks to generous donors, we regularly expand financial support for SF studies at KU - stay
tuned for more!

Everyone enjoys equal access to the Center's offerings, and we actively
encourage students and scholars from diverse backgrounds to study with us.
Many courses offered by Center faculty are also available to be taken not-for-credit
for professionalization purposes (if space is available). Click here to see the Center's Diversity Statement.

Science Fiction Summer 2020

Learn how to write SF that sells. Using the short-story form, we help you master the elements that
create great stories. Since 1985.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will likely move to online offerings for 2020. Stay tuned.

Using the short-story form, this annual two-week residential writing workshop
helps established writers grow their skills while helping those who have just begun to publish or who need the final bit of insight or skill
to master the elements that create great stories editors
want and readers love. Become part of the Center's writing community: Author, SF scholar, and
Center Director
Christopher McKitterick
has led the workshop since 2010, and we bring guest authors-in-residence to expand the discussion.

Many alums build bonds with their cohort that last a lifetime!
Usually taken for professionalization, but also available for graduate credit
as a courtesy to the English Department as ENGL 757.
Plan to stay for the
Gunn Center Conference
- membership is included with Workshop registration! Scholarship available.

Learn how to transform your book idea into a successful project. Since 2004.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will likely move to online offerings for 2020. Stay tuned.

Award-winning author, KU Professor, and CSSF Associate Director Kij
Johnson leads this annual two-week residential
novel-writing workshop, during which attendees
learn what's necessary to complete or revise the novel with an eye
toward publication, generate the best possible chapters and an outline for a
writer's submission packet, and build long-lasting bonds with other members of the writing community.

Repeat Offenders is an opportunity to work with similarly
trained writers on whatever projects everyone has underway. We alternate between
critique sessions and project-development sessions, with "Write Groups," daily progress check-ins,
and the usual evening socializing and writing. Bring a work-in-progress
that we'll collaboratively and intensively develop, maybe a couple of short pieces to
critique, or just something you hope to complete
during your time here.

Become fluent in SF by studying some of the most-influential
stories
that shaped the genre. Since 1975.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will likely move to online offerings for 2020. Stay tuned.

This annual two-week intensive course alternates between the SF short story and novel,
and is intended to give teachers, scholars, and interested students a solid
background in the development of the genre's literature.

For summer 2020, we study the SF
short story;
in 2021, we'll study the SF novel. Plan to arrive early enough to
attend the Gunn
Center Conference
- membership is included in your registration! Can be taken for
professionalization or for credit as a courtesy to the English Department as
ENGL 506 (undergraduate) or ENGL 790 (graduate).

Click the image for the
poster. Click here
for more details and a recent syllabus.

Fall Semester 2020

Connect with other SF authors, scholars, editors, and fans while celebrating
the best SF of the year. In an intimate setting, discuss topics relevant to the
human condition and the science-fiction field. Since 1974.

The Gunn Center
Conference
is the core of our annual summer program and features intelligent and informed discussion as well as readings, signings, and talks by a variety
of important SF authors, editors, and scholars. It is the venue for presenting the
John W. Campbell Memorial
Award for the best science-fiction novel of the year, and the
Theodore Sturgeon Memorial
Award for the best short science fiction of the year. This event is one of the genre's best-kept secrets!

The theme for 2020 is "Imagined Worlds, Imaginative Reasoning,"
and will be held in the fall in Lincoln, Nebraska, to launch our new
relationship with the University of Nebraska (and to avoid potential pandemic
risks in June).

Usually held in the summer, the theme of the 2019 Conference was "Gender, Sexuality, Race, Class, Love, Empathy, and Style in Science Fiction:
The Legacies of Theodore Sturgeon," in 2018 "The Posthuman and Science Fiction," in 2017 "Saving the World Through Science Fiction," in honor of
founder James Gunn, and included a presentation by the Chinese Future
Affairs Administration about "Science Fiction in China." The 2016
Gunn Center Conference
served as the academic programming track for the
World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City,
MidAmeriCon II.

Join author Chris McKitterick
on a journey
of exploration as we investigate how
SF changes and evolves as it embraces (and is embraced by) various
media forms. Since 2014.

Through readings, viewings, and
other interactive experiences,
this course
examines science fiction across a range of media, including film, television, literature, comics, gaming, fanfic, and more. We will survey the genre's history, trace its development
across multiple media as new generations of creatives have taken advantage of
new tools to respond to changing
social conditions, and discuss the effects that - through various
media forms - SF has on today's expression of what it means to be human living
through ever-accelerating change. Students write weekly responses as they read a
diversity of materials, view films and other multimedia expressions, participate in discussions,
explore their unique understanding and interpretation of the genre, and then
create and share personal visions through multimedia responses. Offered as
ENGL 203.

In 2020, we are offering two sections of this course, late Wednesday and
Thursday afternoons.

Spring Semester 2020

Explore the future through reading and discussing nonfiction and extrapolative work. Since
2005.

Science and technology offer countless benefits to individuals and to societies while presenting new challenges.
In this course we read and discuss
nonfiction and science fiction to explore the past, present, and possible future
effects of science and technology on society and humankind. The only thing
certain about our future is that it will be different than today! Participants
write weekly reading responses, a mid-term paper, a research paper or creative
work as final project, and take part in a group presentation. Everyone leads at
least one session's discussion. This is a capstone course for the major, officially satisfies
the Humanities requirement and KU Core Goal 6,
and is a featured Honors course. Listed as ENGL 507 for
the English capstone,
HUM 510 for Honors undergraduates, ENGL 690 for graduate students or
special-circumstance undergraduates; also available as ENGL 998 (Investigation
and Conference) for graduate students who have used up their 600-level allotment.

Click here for the
poster. Click here
for more details and a version of the syllabus.

Upcoming and Occasional SF Courses

Fiction Writing I and IIfor Speculative-Fiction
Writers

Both Chris McKitterick
(Gunn Center Director) and Kij
Johnson (winner of multiple awards and Associate Director) offer regular-semester fiction-writing workshops, so if you're a KU
spec-fic writer looking to get the most relevant
feedback on your fiction from professional writers, enroll in these courses!

English 351 and 551: Fiction Writing I and II: (Johnson)

Learn how to write powerful fiction from a multiple-award-winning author. Since 2012.

These courses introduce and advance your understanding and application of craft to the development and writing of short fiction.

While not limited to science fiction and fantasy, attention will be given to topics of special
relevance to the speculative fiction, including plotting, world building, immersion strategies, and story types.
Students will read and engage in discussions about short fiction of note, which will be made available online;
workshop student stories through critiquing, written comments,
and mark-up; develop detailed revision strategies and tools; and generate new work through exercises and as
major assignments.

Learn how to write powerful fiction from a professional author. Since 2016.

Through applying effort, drive, and passion - and mastering the fundamentals
- anyone can become a published author.

Learn how to write engaging short
stories with speculative-fiction author and Campbell Award
juror Chris McKitterick as we cover a wide range
of subjects including character, dialogue, expectations for various
popular-fiction genres, idea generation, micro-writing, openings, plot, point of
view, scenes, setting, structure, voice, and publication strategies. Practice
self-editing by reading, critiquing, and discussing successful stories as well
as each other's fiction. Students write fragments and two complete short
stories, plus revise one (or submit a third story, with instructor permission)
for the final project. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realist, and
other speculative-fiction genres all welcome (as well as non-genre fiction)!

Learn how to write SF and fantasy successfully for a
younger audience. Since 2015.

Popular YA fantasy author Tina
Connolly again leads this
one-week, residential YA-writing workshop. The Young Adult genre has
been growing for decades. It has received wide recognition as a genre all its
own since the turn of the 21st century when bookstores began creating specific
YA sections, while at the same time, major awards began to split YA awards off
from the rest of children's literature, and the community saw the rise of
culture-shifting YA books and major movies. Writing in this genre comes with its
own specific challenges, rewards, and controversies.
During this workshop, you'll learn what makes YA novels unique and how to write
them well.

Available as ENGL 506 (undergrad) and ENGL 690
(graduate and undergraduate special) most years in the Fall semester, and
graduate students can also petition to enroll through Investigation and
Conference (ENGL 998).

Click the image for the poster.
Click here
for more details on the class in general and links to both the
short-fiction and
novel versions of the syllabus.

Speculative-fiction scholars need to confidently wield a variety of critical tools for research and
publication in the field. Having a solid foundation in traditional and emerging critical approaches is vital for the publishing and research futures of advanced
SF scholars.

This graduate seminar prepares students planning to undertake serious scholarship on speculative fiction. It surveys the top SF scholars (Aldiss,
Atteberry, Gunn, Hartwell, Kessel, Kelly,
Mendelsohn, Moskowitz,
Panshin, Pohl, Scholes, Suvin, Vandermeer, Wollheim, and more) and their approaches to the major SF movements
(Pulps, Golden Age, New Wave, Cyberpunk, New Space Opera, New Weird, and more).
Students read and discuss a variety of critical essays and pieces of fiction, then apply these approaches to the fiction.
To prepare for professional work in the field,
students are encouraged to submit their papers to the important critical SF journals and present them at relevant conferences.

Originally available as ENGL 980 until 1993; available again in 2015 as a
specially arranged course - watch for a unique line number when offered again.

Philosophy and Science Fiction

Join a philosophy professor and an SF author on a journey of exploration as
we use science fiction to investigate the philosophical questions that lie at
the heart of SF literature.

We hope to offer this new, interdisciplinary course for the first time soon, led by Professor
John Symons,
Chair of KU's Philosophy Department, and SF author Chris McKitterick,
Gunn Center Director.

To remain vital, philosophy needs to be nourished by outside disciplines. In
this course, we will use SF's "What if?" tools to explore concepts of the
posthuman, death and immortality, life extension, what counts as important and
real, non-anthropomorphic senses of value, and other unexplored territory.

Thought-experiments exist before experiment.
Science fiction helps us think outside of traditional frameworks - and ourselves
- offering new, creative engines for
researchers. Class format is 13 weeks centered around various themes followed by two weeks of student presentations.
Students write weekly reading responses, two papers using the techniques and craft of
both philosophy and literary analysis, and a final research paper, demonstrating
they have what it takes to be a philosopher.
In the first half of thematic class, the instructors present
materials, pose arguments, and model philosophical approaches through question, response, and so on; students bring objections and arguments,
and participate in vigorous and collaborative debate. After break, we'll have
more open discussion.

Offered for the first time in the 2013–2014 academic year, this new course for seniors and graduate students
studies literature in the fantastic mode and genre, from foundational works such as
Beowulf and Apuleius's The Golden Ass through modern works by
China Miéville, Donald Barthelme, and others. Listed as ENGL xxx (TBA).

Animal Narratives

This new freshman-sophomore honors seminar (taught by award-winning fantasy
author Kij Johnson) studies the ways
animals are used in literature, including mainstream, SF/F/H, and children's
works. Offered as ENGL 205.

Science Fiction Youth Summer Camp

In the near future, we hope to offer the Science Fiction Youth Summer Camp, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Science Fiction
and one of our Affiliates.
Check back for updates. If you
are interested in helping organize or participate in this event, let us know!

More to come - stay tuned!

Interdisciplinary SF Courses at KU

African and African-American Studies

Professor Tony Bolden"A central element of my pedagogy on a music and aesthetic called funk involves
Afrofuturism. In fact, the musician George Clinton
was engaging the concept long before the term was coined.
Jimi Hendrix, whose music influenced Clinton, was also interested in SF. My PhD is in literature, so much of my approach is literary.
But much of my independent research has been in musicology, ethnomusicology, and dance and performance.
So I combine of these approaches when I engage music critically."

Astrobiology and Astrobiophysics

Want to study the origin, evolution, and future of life across the universe?
KU is one of the few places you can do that! Here's a quick intro:

Astrobiology Minor (Undergraduate)

Starting in late 2009, the KU Physics Department has offered a minor in
astrobiology.
The minor is open to KU
undergraduates, but is especially appealing to students already majoring
in one of the key core areas identified in the program: Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry,
Geology, and Physics. KU is only the third university in the country to offer this minor.
Astrobiology is conventionally concerned with the nature and detectability of
life outside the Earth, but has grown considerably in the era of Mars rovers and the
detection of planets orbiting other stars. Another aspect, and the one emphasized in the
related research done at KU, concerns the effects of extraterrestrial events such as
Solar flares on the Earth and its biota.
This subject is inherently multidisciplinary, so the coursework for a minor reflects
this. This makes it a good companion for natural science and hard-science
fiction majors who want a broad foundation in the other natural sciences, while picking up some upper-division
work at the same time. Research in astrobiology is an option.
This minor is certified in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Center
personnel are affiliates.

Astrobiophysics is concerned with the effect of astrophysical processes on
life on Earth, as well as effects on possible life elsewhere, as distinguished
from astrobiology, which is concerned with finding extraterrestrial life. A wide
variety of research areas meet here, including astrophysics, astronomy,
biochemistry, evolutionary biology, paleontology, atmospheric science, and a
host of others.
One current KU Astrobiophysics project
is funded by NASA.

Professor
Anna Neill"It is common to
think of the Victorians as hawkish social Darwinists who used
the theory of natural selection to support imperialist and eugenicist
ambitions. However both scientific and imaginative writers of the period
offer enormously diverse accounts of biological and social development, and
often foreground literature as a special sort of symbolic communication that
has the power to shape human destiny. In contrast with the efforts of
scientific racism to provide biological evidence for "primitive" and
"advanced" characteristics among different human groups, these writers
portray a fluid evolutionary process in which fantastic landscapes not only
map out possible evolutionary futures but also aim to shape how readers
navigate social environments of the present. With extraordinary boldness,
they also aim to influence how behavioral and cognitive human traits either
flourish or decline. Through its focus on evolutionary theory, this course will bring a key
preoccupation of the Victorian period to bear on both cultural and
disciplinary tensions of our own time. What complexities in the history of
evolutionary thought are overlooked when we subordinate culture to biology?
What role can literary studies play in the investigation of human
development? In order to address such questions, we will read a combination
of: 1) evolutionary science texts; 2) children's literature that explores
the impact of imaginative forms on development; 3) speculative fiction that
depicts the evolutionary outcomes of particular social behaviors; and 4) a
combination of critical articles and cognitive and evolutionary approaches
to the analysis of literary texts. Evolutionary science readings will
include extracts from works by Charles Darwin, J.B. Lamarck, Herbert
Spencer, Samuel Butler, T.H. Huxley, and Ernst Haeckel. The novels and
stories we will read are as follows: Edwin Abbott, Flatland; Samuel
Butler, Erewhon; Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland;
Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories; Charles Kingsley, The Water
Babies; George Macdonald; The Princess and the Goblin; William
Morris, News from Nowhere; H. G. Wells, The Time Machine and
The Island of Dr. Moreau. Participants will offer a presentation and
two short essays leading to a final research paper."

Your Course

Check back soon for updates about upcoming, interdisciplinary course
offerings of interest to KU students who seek to study speculative fiction or other
disciplines that extrapolate about and explore the social, scientific,
technological, and expressive future of our world.

If you
are interested in listing your course here, let us know! Contact
Chris McKitterick at
cmckit@gmail.com and give me your course name and number, a description, and
any relevant links to syllabus or other online materials.

Last updated 3/21/2020

We believe strongly in the free sharing of information, so you'll find
a lot of content - including all of McKitterick's course syllabi and many
materials from our classes - on this and related sites and social networks as part of the Center's
educational outreach. Feel free to use this content for independent study, or
to
adapt it for your own educational and nonprofit purposes; just please credit us and link
back to this website. We'd also love to hear from you if you used our
materials!